Downtown Rocky Mount scored a major victory – or, maybe we should say, a clutch 3-pointer – when native son and former UNC hoops standout Phil Ford announced this week that he and other unnamed investors would buy and renovate the shuttered Carleton House.

The city welcomes the news. Rocky Mount has made the needed first steps toward returning downtown to its glory days. The historic train station has long since been rebuilt, offering a memorable landmark for residents and an attractive front door for guests who arrive via Amtrak. The Imperial Centre for the Arts and Sciences is a top-notch anchor on the other end of the district, offering gallery, educational and performance spaces more like those in much larger cities.

But what is between has, well, been moving a good bit more slowly. A few businesses have found profitable niches. The former Planter's Bank has been restored.

But setbacks have appeared as well. Some business projects look to have been started and then stopped, and fires have carved holes in several blocks. Too much storefront space also has been taken up by nonbusinesses such as churches, which are out of place in a retail district.

Ford's move hopefully will help clear some of the hurdles and offer an overall needed boost by restoring another well-known business landmark. A reopened restaurant at the site – especially if its plans are fulfilled as grandly as described – will attract more people downtown and offer alternatives to the chain-dominated local dining scene. A reopened hotel may prove to be a challenge to operate profitably, but if done so, it couldn't help but boost downtown business.

In making the announcement about the Carleton House, Ford said he could remember the downtown in its prime and that he wants to see it return to its glory. His and other investors' efforts may play a large role in returning to a time when the central business district's shops and restaurants were crowded with shoppers and diners and families and corporations made money from the small- and medium-size businesses there.